Microsoft won’t give employees pay rise this year: Insider

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Microsoft has now squarely placed its focus on generative AI, an area the industry sees as a bright spot.

Microsoft has squarely placed its focus on generative AI, an area the industry sees as a bright spot.

PHOTO: REUTERS

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Microsoft will not raise salaries for full-time employees in 2023, and is reducing budgets for bonuses and stock awards, online media company Insider reported on Wednesday, citing an internal e-mail by chief executive Satya Nadella.

The technology giant did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

“Last year, we made a significant investment in compensation driven by market conditions and company performance, nearly doubling our global merit budget... This year, the economic conditions are very different across many dimensions,” the report quoted Mr Nadella as saying.

In January, Microsoft said it would let go of 10,000 workers, adding to the tens of thousands of layoffs across the tech sector as it deals with slowing growth in a turbulent economy.

Microsoft has now squarely placed its focus on generative artificial intelligence (AI), an area the industry sees as a bright spot.

In collaboration with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which has also received billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft, it has been infusing the AI tech into its Office products as well as search engine Bing. REUTERS

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